MLB Rumor Roundup: Astros Need a Catcher

Good afternoon, folks! We’re have our eyes on Twitter waiting for news to break. Here is the latest information going around the league.

Manny Update

According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Yankees offer for Manny Machado does not include either Clint Frazier or Justus Sheffield. Makes sense since Machado is only rental. Last year, J.D. Martinez got a rather underwhelming return. Granted, Machado is hitting .316/.385/.573 (not Martinez-esc but still great) so far and he has a lot more defensive value (at third base) than Martinez had. If they did business with the Yankees, I think they’ll get a player like Chance Adams or someone of that nature and they will move either Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier, or Greg Bird for pitching. Frazier for Zack Wheeler, please and thanks.

A Realmuto Rumor

Jon Heyman of Fancred says the Astros might eventually be the team for J.T. Realmuto. He also mentions that there is not evidence of talks going on now but says the Astros might be the team to most likely meet the Marlins asking price.

There have been virtually no rumors on Realmuto since Miami’s fire sale in the winter. Craig Mish of Sirius XM (he was on top of the Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich trades) says the Marlins are unlikely to move Realmuto at the deadline. He also says the Marlins will likely offer Realmuto a multi-year contract extension in the offseason. If he doesn’t accept it then, then they can re-evaluate.

Speaking of Catchers…

The Rays and the Astros have discussed a Wilson Ramos trade according to Jon Morosi. The Astros need a catcher with Brian McCann hurt and with World Series aspirations once again. Ramos is hitting .291/.340/.479 and has graded out as a good defender. He was recently named the AL’s starting catcher for the All-Star game. It’s a pretty poetic for Ramos to play the ASG at Nationals park since he played for the Nationals and he also tore his ACL there in 2016.

Another Oriole Trade Chip

Left-handed closer Zach Britton is finally back pitching for the Orioles and will likely be a highly sought after back-end bullpen piece in the next few weeks. Heyman notes that the Astros have again shown interest in Britton. The Astros recently demoted former closer Ken Giles to Triple-A.